Automatic-piano attachment.



J. SAMPERE AUTOMATIC PIANO ATTACHMENT.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 16, 1907. 940,072. Patented Nov. 16, 1909. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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AUTOMATIG PIANO ATTACHMENT. APPLIUATION FILED JUNE 15,- 1907. 94;O,O'72 Patented Nov. 16, 1909.

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UNITE STATES PATENT @FFTCE.

.TosE SAMPERE, on NEW roan, N. Y., assren'oa 'ro enema COMPANY, or RAH.- WAY, new JEasEY, A eoaPonarIor-I or New JERSEY.

AUTOMATIC-PIANO ATTfiCH'MENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 15, 1907.

Patented Nov. 16, 1909'.

Serial No. 379,118.

1 00M whom it may concern:

Belt known that T, JOSE SAMPERE,- a subject of the King of Spain, and a resident of the borough ofthe Bronx, city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Automatic-PianoAttachments, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to automatic pianos and has for its object to provide instruments of this kind with an easily operated door for closing the opening after the pedals for operating the bellows have been folded into their inoperative position.

My invention will be fully described hereinafter and the features of novelty will be pointed out in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which Figure l is a sectional view of a portion of a piano with my device applied thereto, on the line 1-1 of Fig; 2, and Fig. 2, is a rear elevation thereof.

A represents a portion of the lower casing of the piano and B is'the keyboard thereof. The casing A is provided with an opening C through which the bellows operating pedals are folded into their operative or inoperative positions. A door D is pivoted at E and is adapted to close this opening C, a stop F being provided to limit the movement of said door.

Gr is a shaft which extends across the easing. and is journaled near each end in bearings G Fingers H are-carried by this shaft to move'therewith and have their free ends abutting against the inner surface of the door D. An arm H is also secured to the shaft G and is connected by a link I with a lever J. This lever J is connected to move with a shaft J journaled in bearings 5 secured to the base board K of the piano. A cam L is also secured on the shaft J the purpose of which will be more fully described hereinafter. The one end of the shaft J is bent into the form-of a crank M which in the position shown in Fig. 1 en gages a swinging member N pivotally secured at N to a lever, N pivoted at N to a stationary portion of the piano. The member N is provided with a projection 0 adapted to engage a pin P carried by the bearing block P which is attached to the pedal lever P This pedal lever P is pivoted at P on a stationary portion of the t l J 3 instrument and carries the pedal P The pedal arm is also provided with a projecting nose P which serves as a stop to limit the movement of the pedal and pedal leverand acts in-conjunction with a pad A of felt or similar material secured: to the cas ing A. The lever N is provided with a slot Q, through which projects the shank of abolt screw Q which is secured to a locking member R which is pivoted at R to a sta tionary portion of the instrument. The locking member R is provided with a projection t which cooperates with the cam L in the manner to be more clearly brought out hereinafter. A- spring S has its one end secured to the locking member R and its other end attached tothe swinging member N and tends to draw these two members toward each other. A leaf spring T is secured to the casing A with its free end in' engagement with the pedal lever P and tends to throw the pedal into its normal position.

In operation assuming the parts to be in the position-shown in Fig. 1 and it is desired to open the door D, thepedal I is depressed by the foot of the player. This results in swinging the pedal lever P on its pivot P and raising the end thereof which carries the block P This block P engages and raises the crank M and partially rotates the shaft J in its bearings thus swinging the lever J downwardly. This downward movement of the lever J also causes the arm- H to be moved in a downward direction through the medium' of the'link I. The shaft G is thus rotated and the fingers H are moved in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1 and the door D is swung on its hinges E into the open position. The door D is limited in this outward movement by the keyboard B of the piano and is thus limited to an inclined open position. The purpose of this will be explained herein after. During the rotation of the shaft J as just described, the cam L is also moved with it, until when the door D has reached its final open position the upper edge of said cam L will be engaged by the projection R of the locking member R. The door D is thus maintained in its open position. During the movement of the pedal lever P to open the door the pin P on the block P has raisedthe swinging member N and swings the lever N on its pivot N. This movenient however, owing to the slot Q, has had no effect on the locking lever B and leaves opening in one of its walls, a movable door the said lever R free to be drawn to the right in Fig. l by the spring S so that the projection B may engage the cam L at the proper time. The bolt Q is now at the upper portion of the slot Q. As the pedal lever P raises the crank M, this crank will move the member N to the right in Fig. 1 and disengage the projection 0 from the pin P so that the lever N is free to continue to move to produce the results just explained. As soon as pressure is removed from the pedal P it is returned to its normal position by the spring T and the lever N is drawn to the left in Fig. l by the spring S thus again bringing the projection O of said lever N over the pin P. If it is now desired to close the door the pedal P is again depressed, whereupon the swinging lever N will be raised through the medium of the pin P and projection O. This will cause the lever N to be swung on its pivot N and owing to the fact that the bolt Q is in the upper portion of the slot Q will cause the locking member R to be moved on its pivot R to the left in Fig. 1. The cam L will thus be released from the restraint of the projection R and the weight of the door D will cause it to close and to return the mechanism to its normal position. As before stated the extreme open position is an in clined one so that the moment the cam L and the projection R are disengaged the said door will commence to drop.

I have found it convenient to use the usual middle pedal for operating my device thus doing away with the necessity for stooping on the part of the player.

What I claim is: I

l. The combination of a casing having an opening in one of its walls, a movable door arranged to close said opening, mechanism for moving said door to an open position, means for locking said mechanism to hold the door in its open position and means for operating said door moving mechanism to open the door and for releasing said locking means.

2. The combination of a casing having an opening in one of its walls, a movable door arranged to close said opening, mechanism arranged to move said door to an open position, a device for operating said mechanism and means for automatically returning said device to normal position without affecting the door-opening mechanism.

3. The combination of a casing having an arranged to close said opening, mechanism for moving said door to an open position, means for operating said door opening mechanism said means being capable of a movement relative to said mechanism and a spring for returning said means to its normal position.

4. The combination of a casing provided with an opening in one of its walls, a door arranged to close said opening, mechanism for moving said door to leave the opening free, means for locking said door in its open position and a depressible pedal adapted to operate said door moving mechanism, said pedal being arranged to release the locking means to permit the door to return to its initial position to again close said opening.

The combination of a casing provided with an opening in one of its walls, a door arranged to close said opening, a cam mounted on a stationary part of the casing, connections from said cam to said door, a pedal for operating said cam to cause said door to open, a locking member arranged to engage said cam after it has been operated by the pedal to maintain the door in its open position, and means connected with said locking member and arranged to be operated by the pedal to release said cam and permit the door to close.

6. The combination of a casing having an opening in one of the walls, a door arranged to close said opening, a cam mounted on a stationary part of the casing, a lever connected with said cam, a finger pivotally mounted on said casing and having its free end in engagement with said door, a connection from said finger to said lever, a pedal arranged to operate said cam and said finger to open the door, a pivoted locking member arranged to engage said cam after it has been operated by the pedal to maintain the door in its open position and means connected with said locking member and arranged to be engaged by said pedal to swing the locking member out of engagement with the cam and permit the door to resume its closed position.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses this 12th day of June, 1907.

JOSE SAMPERE.

Witnesses JOHN A. KnrILENnncn, FRED A. KLEIN. 

